Ted Cruz doubts President Obama on immigration

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says President Barack Obama wants to “scuttle” immigration reform by injecting a path to citizenship into the debate so Democrats can keep the issue alive for political gain.

“The president has been focusing on amnesty — a path to citizenship that skips ahead of the line,” the freshman tea party senator said Wednesday at a speech in Dallas, according to The Dallas Morning News. “That, he knows, is a position not supported by a great many Americans and not a position that will achieve bipartisan cooperation. It’s designed to scuttle the bill.”

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Cruz said that he doesn’t think Obama wants to pass immigration reform — despite a group of bipartisan senators, including Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), announcing a proposal last month.

“I’m not optimistic about common-sense immigration reform passing this Congress,” Cruz said, according to the Morning News.

He added: “I don’t believe President Obama wants an immigration bill to pass, instead I think he wants a political issue. His objective is to push so much on the table that he forces Republicans to walk away from the table because then he wants to use that issue in 2014 and 2016 as a divisive wedge issue.”